Blow to Cameron over EU spending

The House of Commons has voted to reject any deal on the European Union’s long-term budget that does not cut spending in real terms.

Prime Minister David Cameron had previously taken a slightly softer line, saying that he is seeking cuts of at least €100 billion to the European Commission’s €1,033bn proposal for 2014-20, but that in the worst case he could accept a spending freeze. Given the rate of inflation, this would mean a 2% increase on the current long-term budget.

Cameron also said that getting a deal among the 27 EU leaders who meet in Brussels on 22-23 November was in Britain’s national interest.

But the vote, late yesterday (1 November), was an embarrassment to the government because it united MPs from the opposition centre-left Labour party with members of Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives. The threat to reject a budget deal was adopted with 307 to 294 votes.

The vote is not legally binding on the government, but signals that Cameron will not be able to get Parliament’s backing for a deal on the multi-annual financial framework that does not cut spending in real terms. Adoption of the MFF requires unanimity among the EU’s 27 member states and subsequent ratification by each member state.

The vote is the biggest blow to the government since the coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats took power in 2010.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, attacked Labour over yesterday’s vote in a speech at Chatham House, a foreign-policy think-tank in London, today (1 November). “Their change of heart is dishonest, it’s hypocritical,” Clegg said. “And worst of all, Labour’s plan would cost the taxpayer more, not less. Because in pushing a completely unrealistic position on the EU budget – one that is miles away from any other country’s position – Labour would have absolutely no hope of getting a budget deal agreed.”

If no MFF is agreed, the EU would from January 2014 operate on a month-by-month budget based on the 2013 budget, which is also currently being negotiated between member states and MEPs.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Liberals group in the European Parliament and a former prime minister of Belgium, slammed Labour’s backing for the vote. “It is a scandal that the Labour party has sided with the most anti-European wing of the Conservative party to reduce Cameron’s proposed EU budget freeze to an all-out reduction,” he said in a statement. “The Labour party has demonstrated that it has no shame in shedding what little European credentials it may have had for short-term political point-scoring.”

Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, said: “The member states and national parties must stop this absurd competition of who can cut the EU budget the most. It is a disastrous race to the bottom and will have particularly negative consequences for those countries that urgently need financial support for growth and competitivity. The EU budget – or any EU policies – must not be the victim of domestic political fights.”

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Alan

In the light of the Court of Auditors views on waste & mismanagement & the fact that accounts have not been signed off for c18years perhaps Verhofstadt & Swoboda might wish to reconsider their positions??

Posted on 11/6/12 | 2:31 PM CEST

Alan

In the light of the Court of Auditors views on waste & mismanagement & the fact that accounts have not been signed off for c18years perhaps Verhofstadt & Swoboda might wish to reconsider their positions??

Posted on 11/6/12 | 2:31 PM CEST

Alan

In the light of the Court of Auditors views on waste & mismanagement & the fact that accounts have not been signed off for c18years perhaps Verhofstadt & Swoboda might wish to reconsider their positions??

Posted on 11/6/12 | 2:31 PM CEST

Alan

In the light of the Court of Auditors views on waste & mismanagement & the fact that accounts have not been signed off for c18years perhaps Verhofstadt & Swoboda might wish to reconsider their positions??

13/11/2012) A clash among Greece’s international lenders over how long to give the stricken country to get its debts down to a sustainable level reignited fears on Tuesday that the euro zone debt crisis could flare up anew. Euro zone finance ministers suggested on Monday that Greece should be given until 2022 to lower its debt/GDP ratio to 120 percent but International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde insisted the existing target of 2020 should remain. “We clearly have different views. What matters at the end of the day is the sustainability of Greek debt so that country can be back on its feet,” Lagarde said in an unusually public airing of disagreement. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

13/11/2012) A clash among Greece’s international lenders over how long to give the stricken country to get its debts down to a sustainable level reignited fears on Tuesday that the euro zone debt crisis could flare up anew. Euro zone finance ministers suggested on Monday that Greece should be given until 2022 to lower its debt/GDP ratio to 120 percent but International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde insisted the existing target of 2020 should remain. “We clearly have different views. What matters at the end of the day is the sustainability of Greek debt so that country can be back on its feet,” Lagarde said in an unusually public airing of disagreement. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

13/11/2012) A clash among Greece’s international lenders over how long to give the stricken country to get its debts down to a sustainable level reignited fears on Tuesday that the euro zone debt crisis could flare up anew. Euro zone finance ministers suggested on Monday that Greece should be given until 2022 to lower its debt/GDP ratio to 120 percent but International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde insisted the existing target of 2020 should remain. “We clearly have different views. What matters at the end of the day is the sustainability of Greek debt so that country can be back on its feet,” Lagarde said in an unusually public airing of disagreement. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

13/11/2012) A clash among Greece’s international lenders over how long to give the stricken country to get its debts down to a sustainable level reignited fears on Tuesday that the euro zone debt crisis could flare up anew. Euro zone finance ministers suggested on Monday that Greece should be given until 2022 to lower its debt/GDP ratio to 120 percent but International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde insisted the existing target of 2020 should remain. “We clearly have different views. What matters at the end of the day is the sustainability of Greek debt so that country can be back on its feet,” Lagarde said in an unusually public airing of disagreement. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA